Of Peaches and Patience...
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)
So what do patience and peaches have in common? Well, for starters they are both fruits...and both start with "P" at that. They also can both rot; take it from me, I know. My peaches here in my bowl aren't the only fruit that can rot, my fruit of the spirit can also at times become maggot infested and rotten.
Kara's comment on a previous post got me thinking about patience this morning. And I know all about praying for patience...she is absolutely right on...pray for patience and it will all break loose. So basically, if you aren't looking for refinement in the area of trials and tribulations, perseverance and becoming ultimately more Christlike, don't pray for patience. I know. I wrote about this in my first book, Winning the Drug War at Home...Come up with another request...like joy, or gentleness or one of the other fruits. Patience equals long-suffering; that is what it is called another Bible translation.
But we could all use an extra dose of patience, couldn't we? I am chuckling to myself as I think about the lesson I had in patience just this morning. It had to do with driving my younger daughter to school this morning. It is normally just a quick ride down the hill, to the right, and voila, there we are at school. But there is a bridge out between here and there, that requires making a large U to a parallel road and back again, through a busy intersection that is prone to getting backed up. I know I don't live in a metro area where I need to deal with traffic every day, now that would really be a lesson in patience (or insanity). So on my way back home the turn lane off the busy road was way backed up...so I continued straight to make the turn from a bit further down and then back tracked. I was at the traffic light waiting to proceed, enjoying the quiet of the car ruminating about these things when the light changed and when I didn't immediately gun it the guy in his little hot rod Mitsubishi behind me honked. I waved to him out my rear view mirror and gave him a huge smile, knowing that in other areas of the country he may have received other gestures and looks. He wasn't patient, but I guess neither was I because I chose to go around rather than sit in the pretty long left turn lane (and the green left arrow is pretty quick...)
So how am I learning to become more patient?
- By bringing the island way of life home with me as much as possible.
- By being less demanding of myself and others.
- I am not wearing my watch as much here either.
- By not multi-tasking.
- By purging stuff (so I will not have as much to take care of, necessitating less multi-tasking because I can't seem to find enough time to maintain order).
- By focusing on relationships more than other things and allowing myself to be interrupted to allow for relationships to take precedence.
- And yes, by praying, although not necessarily for patience...
And those beautiful peaches? You didn't know Howie was an organic farmer, did you? Freshly picked from our backyard tree.
Peace (and Patience :)
Labels: Galatians 5:22-23, patience, Peaches, relationships, stress
posted by www.kathypride.com at
8:31 AM
8 Comments:
Oh, what lovely peaches!! I buy mine at the local farm. I planted a peach tree once, but it was way at the back of the pasture, which I had hoped to turn into an orchard and it didn't get enough water. Since then, one of our ancient apple trees has died and I only have an ancient apple tree, an ancient bosc pear tree (oh, that pear tree is a story I need to add to my own blog!!), and a cherry tree I planted that is about 10 years old, but the horses did their best to debark ALL the trees this winter, so it's looking pretty sad, and my horse has learned to stand on his hind legs to "prune" and "thin" my apple and pear tree, so I don't know how long they are for this world either. I have since learned to plant my fruit trees close to the house so they will get wattered and cared for.
If you are ever short of patience, I could rent you my son. Our pastor says all the time, "Do you know it is wrong to YELL at your kids?" (I think he is talking to people who habitually yell at their kids and tear them down--not me.) I always want to say to him, "Take my son for a day, and see if you yell." I have a lot of bricks in my patience wall!! (but I still lose it now and then). In fact, I'm putting a brick in it today. I had a doctor appt and no clean pants (or underwear). So I put a load in the machine. When I went to put in the dryer, it had not spun. So now I am fixing my washing machine. (do you KNOW how filthy they get inside and underneat? ) Just what I needed to top off my day. Dirty clothes and a dead machine. Pass the mortar, please.
Bleah...I just wrote a nice, thoughtful comment, and my blogger post name didn't post, and then it vanished while I got it started up again...
I basically said we can pass the mortar back and forth, we have one pear tree, the deer are eating the bark off our trees, and yes, I know how gunky the inside of washing machines get, and the dryer lint has been disconnected now for some time in my house. This means I often close the LR door to my FR and open it to the garage to let the heat out. Of course, this winter,it may help offset some of my fuel costs...
As I said, we can pass the mortar back and forth.
Peace.
How did you know? Last year we had a RAT in our laundry room, and after chasing him around in a small confined space with, yes, a PITCHFORK, he moved to our kitchen and we finally killed him with poison. He must have been one of those kind that is immune to blood thinners, as we fed him what should have been a more-than-lethal dose of coumadin, in peanut butter, and he gobbled it up. So we bought actual rat poison and he got the hint, after more than HALF A BOX!! But we discovered in the process that he was entering the laundry room through a torn dryer hose (perhaps he tore it himself)...so when I pulled the case off my washing machine to fix what turned out not to be the problem after all, there was stinky rat poop under it....And now I have to have a repairman come fix it...and, yes, I will be detoxing the entire room before he sets a foot in it!!
Thanks to our blessed 3-yr-old cat's carousing last summer, we now have a cat population of 9, 6 of whom are under a year. But they are wonderful hunters, as evidenced by the 12-inch garter snake one brought in the other day and layed it stretched out beside her in the middle of our brand new wood living room floor. And no, it was not dead, just playing dead. I also find dead voles and shrews and birds daily outside, so they are THANKFULLY good mousers as well as good snakers.
Pass the mortar!..and lay hands on my poor overworked, but fairly new (7 years?) washing machine!! I saw two for sale cheap on the way home today....I hope that was not a sign!!
PS...not just a rat... a GIANT rat. Trust me, any size rat in your house is huge, but this one was Goliath of the rats!! We have a new vent hose purchased, but has my dh put it in? I think he was afraid of what we might find under the dryer!! (He is actually more afraid of rodents and reptiles than I am...bless his heart.)
Ah, vols. Yes, we have them too...they destroyed the groundcover on our bank and drove our poor dog crazy trying to sniff them out. Every so often a dead vol would be placed at my feet. When we were cleaning the garage on Sunday, at one point Theresa screamed and said, "Oh, a dead mouse just got sucked into the vacuum" thank goodness it wasn't a mega rat or it would have clogged it up and that wouldn't have been pretty...as it is I have to remember to change the bag with the dead mouse in it sooner rather than later...
We just got two kitties in May, but in Novemeber they will be de-he'ed and de-she'ed.
No snakes yet.
to add to the story....I heard a mouse scratching above our dishwasher, checked, and there is still rat poison under there....
Later one of our kittens was batting at something at the side of the dishwasher...a mouse tail!! I pulled on it and it wouldn't come, so I woke dh from his nap and he put a vice clamp on that tail (poor mouse, who will soon be out of his misery, so I don't dwell on it) and started disassembling the dishwasher front. I think I want to move to a laundromat across the street from a fast food place...except that my son found an ant in his shake (from Arby's) the other day...we rarely eat there anyway.
Anyway, after half an hour, and that mouse tail looking longer and longer...we finally get to the mouse who has crawled through a hole that is too small to get through and he cannot go either way. forget the vicegrips on the tail, we put a plastic container over his front and tried to encourage the back end through...nope, so dh grabs the skin on the front with the vicegrips and pulls him through. Secure in the pliers, I take the mose outside and call the cats. The only one who ansswers comes running up with a vole in her mouth. Her mother comes, but cares nothing for the mouse. Her brother comes and we throw the mouse to him, and now it's curtains for the critter...but my goodness what a lot of rodents!!
And now my dishwasher AND my washing machine lie in parts about 15 feet apart....wahhhh
I think I would be asking for the mortar and for someone to use it on me swiftly...
I think I would be asking for the mortar and for someone to use it on me swiftly...
Post a Comment
<< Home